SIMBA Fibre Broadband

[artemiel]

Simba came and install, but I only got speed of up to 1.1gbps (wired)... I'm in jurong west, does it make a difference where one stays? Very disappointed with the speed... WiFi only 200mbps dl using tplink archer ax50

 

[sglandscape]

Simba came and install, but I only got speed of up to 1.1gbps (wired)... I'm in jurong west, does it make a difference where one stays? Very disappointed with the speed... WiFi only 200mbps dl using tplink archer ax50

Your wired network adapter supports more than 1Gbps?

 

[artemiel]

The technician tested it on his equipment... but isn't that what we should expect?

 

[artemiel]

my viewquest 1gbp gets about 650-700 mbps , I'm using asus RT-AX88U. Now with simba I'm getting 200-300 nia....




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Same here, I got less than 200 on my tplink archer ax50... could it be because of location? The tech did mention that it's because I'm in jurong

 

[xiaofan]

The technician tested it on his equipment... but isn't that what we should expect?

Simba came and install, but I only got speed of up to 1.1gbps (wired)... I'm in jurong west, does it make a difference where one stays? Very disappointed with the speed... WiFi only 200mbps dl using tplink archer ax50

So you are saying that the SIMBA technican is only able to get 1.1 Gbps when he tested on his equipment, if that is the case, then your wired speed has an issue.

Wireless issue reported seem to be tricky -- the issue may well be SIMBA backend, but I am not so sure how to prove that if the wired speed is okay (say 1.8Gbps). Maybe the experts can chime in to see how to do that.

But if wired speed is only 1.1Gbps, then there is clear a problem already and you should ask SIMBA to fix it.

 

[xiaofan]

Same here, I got less than 200 on my tplink archer ax50... could it be because of location? The tech did mention that it's because I'm in jurong

TP-Link Archer AX50 has only 1Gbps WAN port, so basically you are using SIMBA 2.5Gbps plan as an 1Gbps plan.

Have you tested the wired speed in this case? Did you get 900Mbps+ from the wired test?

As mentioned earlier, wireless issue reported seem to be tricky -- the issue may well be SIMBA backend, but I am not so sure how to prove that if the wired speed is okay. Maybe the experts can chime in to see how to do that.

How to tell if wired speed test result is okay?
1) about 1.8Gbps with dual 2.5G capable router and 2.5G capable PC connected to the router 2.5G LAN port
2) about 1.8Gbps with 2.5G capable PC directly connected to ONT

If got no 2.5G capable router and PC, at least to test it as a normal 1Gbps plan.
1) > 900Mbps with 1Gbps capable PC connected to the router gigabit LAN port
2) > 900Mbps with 1Gbps capable PC directly connected to the ONT

 

[xiaofan]

how about this S$50 rmb 249 yuan xiaomi wi-fi 7 router be3600, how to tell no wi-fi 6? thank you
is 2.5G version

Not so sure what you mean by no WiFi 6, it is backwards compatible with WiFi 4/5/6. Just got no 6GHz band support. This is common for all China version of WiFi 7 router (no 6GHz support, no 320MHz channel bandwidth support, with MLO support, with 4096 QAM support).

I do not recommend going with Xiaomi BE3600 because of the low 256MB RAM. But if you really want to go for the absolute low cost and if you do not have many devices, you can go with it.

https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/threads/wifi-7-routers.6905228/page-13#post-151607352

Xiaomi BE3600 -- more suitable as a mesh node with Xiaomi BE6500 Pro or Xiaomi BE7000 as the main router.
Xiaomi BE3600:
Qualcomm IPQ5312 Quad Core A53 1.1GHz, 256MB RAM, 128MB Flash, Single 2.5G port

Youtube review by Chinese reviewer 知电晓春哥

 

[xiaofan]

For those who are interested in low cost China version WiFI 7 router, please refer to the post here.
https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/threads/wifi-7-routers.6905228/page-12#post-151478961

 

[xiaofan]

I just find out there is a true WiFi 7 router (triband with 6GHz band support) below S$300 now but it is not available in Singapore.

Low cost true WiFI 7 router from TP-Link subsidiary Mercusys 水星路由器 MR47BE with quad 2.5G ports. It seems to be only available in Taiwan now.
https://www.mercusys.com/tw/product/details/mr47be

NT$5,699 is only about S$241.
https://24h.pchome.com.tw/prod/DRAFJ9-A900H3SL0

Youtube review:

 

[laokorkor]

Wow! The way you guys described it, it seems like Whizcomms is more wuhua- same price point but with bigger real world bandwidth.

Simba really min yu sao di. How is Simba going to salvage the situation? I know it - just do another name change makeover and sweep the past under its carpet. Lol!

 

[xiaofan]

Wow! The way you guys described it, it seems like Whizcomms is more wuhua- same price point but with bigger real world bandwidth.

Simba really min yu sao di. How is Simba going to salvage the situation? I know it - just do another name change makeover and sweep the past under its carpet. Lol!

I think it is worth giving SIMBA some more time to prove it. It takes time to improve the services (including tuning the backend).

Case in point: SIMBA mobile service seems to get much better now from the reports, at least matching its pricing.

 

[Mach3.2]

Internet connection isn't just about bandwidth.

If you ever played online games on a Singtel connection (or have friends who does), you might have found they will get random ping spikes or bad ping to local server or even HK servers.

Not unheard of for them to get 40ms for local servers and 200ms for HK servers


That said, dunno how well Simba does in this regard so i reserve judgement on them. But i can definitively say singtel is a no go if you play games.

 

[xiaofan]

Internet connection isn't just about bandwidth.
If you ever played online games on a Singtel connection
(or have friends who does)
, you might have found they will get random ping spikes or bad ping to local server or even HK servers.
Not unheard of for them to get 40ms for local servers and 200ms for HK servers
That said, dunno how well Simba does in this regard so i reserve judgement on them. But i can definitively say singtel is a
no go
if you play games.

And by extension the same conclusion for Whizcomms as well.

On the other hand, the above is a general comment which seems to be true for many games. For some specific games, SingTel may not be bad.

But I do not play games and looks like I will stick with SingTel for another two years (contract will expire in September 2024) as there are no good true 2.5Gbps Fibre Internet plan offering in the pipeline.

I do not recommend SingTel to new users for a different reason -- that is because it is using ONR. Same for Whizcomms 2.5G plan.

I do not recommend SIMBA 2.5G plan either due to the use of CGNAT yet without static IPv4 add-on.

But if one is really want to go with low cost and that is the most important factor and accept the limitations like ONR/CGNAT (and other limitations of WC/SIMBA 2.5G services), I will actually recommend Whizcomms 2.5Gbps plan over SIMBA, as it is riding on SingTel network and has proven track record in terms of stable connections (including speed).

 

[artemiel]

TP-Link Archer AX50 has only 1Gbps WAN port, so basically you are using SIMBA 2.5Gbps plan as an 1Gbps plan.

Have you tested the wired speed in this case? Did you get 900Mbps+ from the wired test?

As mentioned earlier, wireless issue reported seem to be tricky -- the issue may well be SIMBA backend, but I am not so sure how to prove that if the wired speed is okay. Maybe the experts can chime in to see how to do that.

How to tell if wired speed test result is okay?
1) about 1.8Gbps with dual 2.5G capable router and 2.5G capable PC connected to the router 2.5G LAN port
2) about 1.8Gbps with 2.5G capable PC directly connected to ONT

If got no 2.5G capable router and PC, at least to test it as a normal 1Gbps plan.
1) > 900Mbps with 1Gbps capable PC connected to the router gigabit LAN port
2) > 900Mbps with 1Gbps capable PC directly connected to the ONT

The wired speed from the tech's equipment showed 1.1gbps

 

[artemiel]

Have you checked if your existing router supports 160mhz channel bonding? Many routers do not enable the 160mhz by default, so you need to play around with the router settings. I have an old HW AX3 Pro at my parents' house, without 160mhz, my Poco F5 can only do 600mbps, with 160mhz enabled, the speed can go up to 900+mbps which is close to the 1Gbps plan limit. As for the phones, those sold in 2023 should have some network acceleration option where it allows combining both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands at the same time.

I've configured it the channel width to 160, and that's the best u can get, about 200mbps... which is just slightly better than my previous m1 1Gbps

 

[sky1978]

I think it is worth giving SIMBA some more time to prove it. It takes time to improve the services (including tuning the backend).

Case in point: SIMBA mobile service seems to get much better now from the reports, at least matching its pricing.

Perhaps SIMBA should consider sponsoring their own test server. This was the recommendation from Ookla Speedtest themselves.

https://support.ookla.com/hc/en-us/...-What-are-the-benefits-of-sponsoring-a-server

Quote

Reduce Network Congestion

Many ISPs have peering agreements with other ISPs. If you don't have a Speedtest.net server it means your customers may be leaving your network and taking tests with rival ISPs. This can cause network congestion at internet exchanges which can be alleviated by keeping Speedtest.net traffic on your network by sponsoring a server.

Unquote

It will be up to them whether to allocate 10Gbps or 100Gbps bandwidth for testing purposes.

 

[xiaofan]

The wired speed from the tech's equipment showed 1.1gbps

Then you have a case already. You may want to contact SIMBA to tell them your connection has an issue.

 

[xiaofan]

Perhaps SIMBA should consider sponsoring their own test server. This was the recommendation from Ookla Speedtest themselves.

https://support.ookla.com/hc/en-us/...-What-are-the-benefits-of-sponsoring-a-server

Quote

Reduce Network Congestion

Many ISPs have peering agreements with other ISPs. If you don't have a Speedtest.net server it means your customers may be leaving your network and taking tests with rival ISPs. This can cause network congestion at internet exchanges which can be alleviated by keeping Speedtest.net traffic on your network by sponsoring a server.

Unquote

It will be up to them whether to allocate 10Gbps or 100Gbps bandwidth for testing purposes.

Very good point! SIMBA should probably set up its own SpeedTest server as part of the improvement process.

On the other hand, it is pretty difficult to explain the issues faced by some users here where wired speed seems to be normal (eg: 1.8Gbps with 2.5G capable device, or 900+ Mbps with 1G capable device), but the wireless speed seems to be very low.

I tend to think this is still related how SpeedTest server works. But I do not have the technical background to really explain why wireless results are much worse than normal (only 200Mbps to 300Mbps) if the wired result is normal.

Maybe experts like @Mach3.2 or @TanKianW or others can chime in and help.

 

[HiHelloBye]

Internet connection isn't just about bandwidth.

If you ever played online games on a Singtel connection (or have friends who does), you might have found they will get random ping spikes or bad ping to local server or even HK servers.

Not unheard of for them to get 40ms for local servers and 200ms for HK servers


That said, dunno how well Simba does in this regard so i reserve judgement on them. But i can definitively say singtel is a no go if you play games.

yup, one of the reasons why i left ST because of their bad routing to game servers.

imagine playing Call of Duty and i had to use VPN just to have 'decent' connection...

currently on SH now, and all is good

 

[sky1978]

I've configured it the channel width to 160, and that's the best u can get, about 200mbps... which is just slightly better than my previous m1 1Gbps

If your M1 speed on wifi is also that low, then it probably means your wireless environment might be too congested. What is the linkspeed established with the router? Normally, the latest intel AX210 wifi card can have a max linkspeed of up to 2400Mbps established with the router. Android phones also can show linkspeed.

There is an app called wifiinfoview which can scan and tell you how many different networks are around you. Then you can go figure out which are the least used/overlapped channels and configure your router to use them. I usually used the wifiinfoview with wifi analyzer (from windows app store). Wifi analyzer is more graphical and better to look at. But wifi infoview provides more details like all the routers max speed, channels they are using and their bandwidths (20mhlz, 40, 80, 160 or 320mhz). Though I have not seen any 320mhz yet. You probably won't need 160mhz channel bonding to hit 500 or 600mbps if you can find a better and with little overlapping 5Ghz channel.